“That was a long time ago.”
“But it still matters. It’s like the guys on your team.”
“We’re back to that?” he retorted. “You think I’d let anybody in my unit fuck me?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“You need to know you can count on me.”
“I know I can fuckin’ count on you! I don’t depend on anybody as much as you.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because you always have my back!”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “So what if I can’t? What happens then?”
“I don’t—” He growled before stomping up the stairs. “Why do you always have to make everything so goddamn difficult?”
I chuckled as he appeared in the loft and strode over to face me.
“So what’s in your head now?” he asked, stopping in front of me, arms crossed, muscular legs braced apart, power rolling off him as he stood there and fumed. “If we’re not work partners that I won’t wanna come home to you anymore?”
“It took you a long time to trust me.”
“But I do now,” he said curtly. “And I can’t even remember a time I didn’t. Don’t you—it doesn’t matter.”
“What?”
“Whether or not you get transferred or I do. If you wanted to go back to being a cop or if one of us really wants to move up.” He sighed, raking his fingers hard through his hair. “What’s important now is that we live in the same house, that we sleep in the same bed, and that we try as hard as we can to see each other all the time.”
“Ian—”
“Come on, M, you already deal with me leaving when I’m deployed. I’m gone and you’re here and—” His voice broke. “Don’t you fuckin’ miss me?”
“Of course I miss you! What the hell kinda question is that?”
“Well, then, don’t you think when you’re not with me all day that by the end of it I’ll be dying to get back to the office so we can go home together?”
I had never been particularly good about putting myself in another person’s shoes. I really sucked at it, actually. The only thing that had gone through my head was, If I can’t be Ian’s partner, do I still get to be his partner in all things?
“Miro?”
I met his gaze and saw the vulnerability there, as well as the hope. I cleared my throat. “I should know better.”
“Yeah,” he replied hoarsely.
“So the partner thing—that’s just a perk at this point.”
“Yeah,” he repeated.
I reached for him, sliding a hand over his hip and easing him forward, close to me so I could lean in and kiss his throat. He tipped his head sideways so I could reach more skin. “Nothing will change, whether I’m your partner or not.”
“Not between us,” he said with a soft groan. “But that doesn’t mean you get to be anyone else’s. You’re my partner, M. That’s how it needs to stay.”
Yes, it did.
His breath caught as I sucked on his skin. “Are you sure you—Miro!”
To show him that I was indeed up to the task of manhandling him, I stepped back, wrenched him off balance, and threw him down onto the bed face first.
“You know I could hurt you if you’re—”
“Stop talking,” I ordered as I came down on top of him, pinning him to the bed, my knee parting his thighs as I wrestled off first his worn denim shirt and then the white T-shirt underneath. Once I had his broad muscular back bared for my pleasure, I lifted off him enough to kiss down his spine.
“You always—” He was having trouble breathing and so took a gulp of air. “—treat my body like it’s—oh,” he finished with a groan.
“What?” I asked, moving down to his hips, tugging on his pants, kissing lower.
“You have to wait, M. I’m… I… you shouldn’t… I need a shower and—”
“You smell like sweat and soap from this morning, and you,” I husked, my hand sliding beneath him, working open the button and zipper, tugging the gray chinos down, revealing the round chiseled ass I loved. It was as close to perfection as one could get. I especially loved it when I got to watch my cock slide deep inside.
“Miro,” he panted as I put him on his hands and knees before spreading his cheeks and licking over his hole.
He smelled musky and I liked that, but what got me off was the noises he made. The husky groan, the throaty cries, and the pleading where the only word was my name—all of that made me want to see if I could get him to come just from rimming him.
When I pushed inside, tasting, sucking, and took hold of his hard, leaking length, he nearly came off the bed.
“Please,” he gasped. “Lay down.”
Normally I would have done his thinking for him, because that’s how it was for us in bed—what I said had to be followed. But his voice, the sound, so steeped in his own need, made me hesitate.